CONVERTING all airlines to a global standard of real-time tracking may take up to three years to realise, said an ICAO official, despite Inmarsat offering an airline tracking service for free.
News agency Reuters reported Nancy Graham, director of ICAO’s Air Navigation Bureau as saying: “Typically a global standard can take two to three years to put in place.”
Her comments came after a conference of aviation regulators and industry officials in Kuala Lumpur, where costs of the new system, problems of implementation and passing on the cost to passengers were some issues raised.
The ability to track aircraft positions in real time has become a hot topic following the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines’ flight MH370. IATA convened in April a task force for global aircraft tracking and passenger data to prevent a repeat of the tragedy (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 1, 2014).
The Reuters news report quotes IATA as saying its members would voluntarily implement measures in the meantime.
Global mobile satellite communications services provider Inmarsat also announced that it has proposed to ICAO a free global airline tracking service for immediate implementation (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 15, 2014).
